What Ever Happened to New Zealand's Lauded Drug Regulation?
The New Zealand Psychoactive Substances Act 2013 (PSA 2013) was never world leading drug reform, as frequently claimed by drug reformers at the time and re-asserted in an article by one of the Act’s key flag bearers.
It was however, ground breaking drug legislation, that succeeded in gaining unanimous support across New Zealand Parliament (apart from one independent MP), because this new drug law expanded prohibition to include every new psychoactive substance (NPS) not currently incorporated within the Misuse of Drugs Act.
If the concept of the PSA2013 to make drugs illegal (unapproved NPS), punish personal possession and supply, while privileging other selected drugs (approved NPS), sounds familiar, it is, it’s called prohibition. It mirrors what has been happening for decades with approved legal drugs (alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and pharmaceuticals) and outlawed drugs listed under the 1975 Misuse of Drugs Act, except it provides a blanket ban (unless specifically...
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